E3 2004: Sims 2

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How do you improve on the best-selling game of all?

By Steve Butts

For over four years now the sales charts have been completely dominated by Maxis's The Sims. This simulator of everyday life has seen many expansions in that time but this year Maxis is finally going to release the first full sequel to PC's top-selling franchise. Titled The Sims 2 (no big surprise there), this full sequel is one of the games to see here at E3. Executive producer Lucy Bradshaw's already given us a comprehensive overview in a video interview but there's even more information to discover once you start peeling back the layers of this game.

The guiding principles behind the game are "genes, dreams and extremes." That serves as a convenient overview of the changes that are being planned. Genes represent both the generational nature of the game and the traits that are passed down along the branches of your Sims' family trees. Dreams are the aspirations of your individual Sims, long-term goals which are more fundamental than a mere career tracks or day-to-day biological and emotional needs. The final piece, extremes, represents a higher level of drama in the entire experience.

Overall the big change in terms of gameplay is the addition of the more defined, long-term aspirations that have to be achieved within a Sim's limited lifetime. Where the first game required you to attend the basic needs of your individual Sims (eating, sleeping, bathing, etc.), this new game will shift the focus more towards achieving the daily and long-term goals of your Sim's particular aspiration.

You'll pick one of five aspirations when you create a Sim and they'll have a lot to do with how you play the game. If you choose romance as your primary aspiration, for instance, you'll try to make your Sim into a real lover starting with their first teen crush. If you manage to achieve the romantic goals before you, your Sim can become a real Casanova, walking with a noticeable confidence and displaying a charm that few Sims can resist.

The four other aspirations put you on a quest for wealth, fame, knowledge or family. The long-term goals, once achieved, can lead to more unique rewards, behaviors and interactions. As you'd expect, a Sim's personality, relationships and basic needs all reflect back on the aspirations, changing them in subtle ways the type of Sim you're playing. In this way two Sims on a romantic aspiration track can find success in different ways.

Successes or failures also lead to memorable moments. These are small cutscenes that show off a key moment in your Sims' lives, moments so meaningful that they will affect your Sims' behavior. You'll find that other Sims will even gossip about these memorable moments. Equally important, success in a Sim's chosen aspiration will increase that Sim's 20-hour lifespan, giving them even more time to seek out these moments. The game will feature a new moviemaker that allows you to set up cameras and record your Sims' actions to edit and share with friends.

To balance out the potential rewards of an aspiration, failure to reach certain milestones along the way will result in anti-social and fearful behavior. Imagine a romantically minded Sim having his or her marriage proposal rejected and you can get a sense of the potential psychological damage. The parallel to this in the wealth aspiration would be getting demoted or losing moneymaking skills.

Though there's a specific aspiration for Sims devoted to raising families, all Sims will have the ability to have kids to carry on their legacy. In fact, given that Sims will live only an average of about 20 hours, having kids to carry on the name should be a compelling priority. (Crybabies note: you can disable Sim death if you just can't stand the thought of losing them.)

Kids will inherit their parents' physical and personality traits according to a genetic model in the game. There is some random element thrown in to keep it interesting but you can expect kids to be at least a little bit like their parents. Kids get married and move out eventually and over time you'll build an impressive family tree that intersects with those of other Sim families in your neighborhood.

But it's not just nature; nurture plays a role here, too. Good parents will spend time with their kids and will act as good examples to them. Now this "good" bit is a little subjective but the point is that parents can shape a kid's personality through their actions. This becomes important when you consider that adult Sims will want to behave according to their personalities. Make a sloppy Sim clean and they'll become irritated.

There are ten fairly general career tracks in the sequel and Sims will still simply disappear for a few hours each day as they fulfill their career obligations. There's nothing new there. But rather than just getting better pay and hours as they gain levels in a given career track, Sims will gain cool, new reward objects as they move ahead in their jobs. Military Sims will get a neat obstacle course that they can use to train their body. Sims on the business track can take advantage of an indoor putting green, while those who pursue science as a career will have an in-home biotech station.

Given all that Sims have to do now, what with the kids and the job and the lifelong pursuit of love or money, you'd expect there to be absolutely no free time. (Hell, between video games and a job, I already feel that way.) To compensate for the added responsibilities, Sims will now have work-free weekends and can even take personal days off from work. Even so, there's a lot for each Sim to do and time management is still a useful skill.

At least you can pause the game while you decorate and rearrange the house. If the 530 unique game objects aren't enough for you, there's a new design mode that lets you alter the objects. Now you won't have to cry if, for instance, your chiffarobe is just the wrong shade of nougat or if the curtains aren't speckled enough for the den. You also won't have to wait for the expansions (which, though unannounced, are pretty much guaranteed with this franchise) in order to try out a new look in your house.

In addition to the regular expansions, The Sims has benefited greatly from a massive toy chest of community-created content. Still, the current process for downloading and plugging in this content leaves a lot to be desired, particularly in terms of convenience. The sequel will contain a button with the game that takes you directly to the Exchange where you can download additional content. The new game also integrates mod search and uploading functionality.

If you want to know more, check out our video interview with executive producer Lucy Bradshaw.